Holy Holy ‘MY OWN POOL OF LIGHT’ – Album Review

August 01, 2019

HOLY HOLY will release their new album My Own Pool of Light on Friday 2 August. The release will be followed with a national tour this September, October and November.

‘MY OWN POOL OF LIGHT’ – Album Review

REVIEWER – Ben Nicol

On their third release, My Own Pool of Light, Holy Holy put the guitars on the back burner, opting instead for synths, vocal loops and a whole new sonic direction. It’s a bold move for the band that pays off spectacularly, resulting in a standout album that still hits hard but in a whole new way.

The crisp, quality sound that remains ever-present on the record comes courtesy of the album’s producer and guitarist, Oscar Dawson. Having produced tracks for Australian music royalty such as British India, Ali Barter, and Busby Marou amongst others, the album was always going to be in safe hands.

There’s nothing safe about the direction he’s taken this album in though, and the opener, Maybe You Know, is a reminder of that. Timothy Carroll’s immediately-identifiable vocals are paired with one of the many, many catchy bass riffs that await listeners on this record and it only picks up from there.

Holy Holy didn’t just dip their toes in experimental territory, they dived straight in. It’s because of this commitment that we’re rewarded with tracks like Frida. There are warm synth chords that hug listeners’ earbuds, which play beautifully with Carroll’s incredibly catchy rhyming sequences. All things considered, this track is a must listen.

Drummer Ryan Strathie is the driving force behind the album, keeping it afloat with fast-paced beats that never seem to cease. Indeed, between Carroll sharing vocal duties with a vocoder in Flight, and synthesizer sounds that come in all shapes and forms, Strathie’s frenetic drum patterns remain the one and only constant throughout the album.

Their final track, St Petersburg, doesn’t fit in with the rest of the album and intentionally so. It’s a slow, sad piano ballad that feels like a scenic walk compared to the 100m sprint that was the rest of the album. There’s a whole lot of vivid imagery courtesy of Carroll to sweep you away as the reverb builds and builds.

My Own Pool of Light is an explosive new direction for Holy Holy, indicating that these guys aren’t resting on their laurels with flamboyant guitar solos and easy to grasp hooks. Instead, they’ve taken the alternative route and it’ll be very interesting to see where it leads them.

My Own Pool of Light – Track listing

1. Maybe You Know
2. Faces
3. Flight
4. Sandra
5. Starting Line
6. Paces#1
7. People
8. Teach Me About Dying
9. Hatswing
10. (10)
11. Frida
12. St Petersburg